It is conventional that automatic teller machines are installed in a financial institution such as a bank, and when an error occurs in a cash cassette for storing cash, information (error code or the like) on the type of error that occurred is recorded in a memory device provided in the automatic teller machine, and an error message is displayed to a clerk. For example, there are proposed a technique for recording, in a memory of an automatic teller machine or the like, data indicating an incorrect open or closed position of a partition plate relative to the opening part of a currency storage case (see Patent Document 1), and a technique for recording a failure of a sensor for discriminating bills (see Patent Document 2). In the event of such an error or failure, a maintenance worker for the bank repairs and inspects the cash cassette based on the recorded data such as an error code displayed on the screen.
On the other hand, automatic teller machines have recently been introduced into retail stores such as convenience stores to increase user convenience. An automatic teller machine installed in a retail store is under the control of a financial institution such as a bank, not of the manager of the store. It means that the manager of the store is not permitted to add bills into a cash cassette inside the store immediately when the automatic teller machine runs low on paper currency. Therefore, the cash cassette for storing bills needs to be removable from the automatic teller machine so that a maintenance worker from the bank can replace the cash cassette with a refilled cash cassette.
When an error occurs in such a cash cassette in the automatic teller machine, the maintenance worker from the bank replaces the cash cassette with a normal cash cassette, and brings the defective cash cassette back to a cash center for repair and inspection based on information that was displayed on the automatic teller machine. In such a case, the maintenance worker attaches onto the cash cassette a memo including the serial number of the automatic teller machine used when the error occurred, the type of error, etc. not only to distinguish the defective cash cassette from other cassettes that are not defective but are low on cash, but also to do proper repair work.
The manufacturing cost of a cash cassette is high because it is made sturdy for security reasons such as crime prevention. It is therefore preferable to reuse any cash cassette collected by maintenance workers and replenished it with bills. It means that the cash cassette is not always loaded in the same automatic teller machine. In some cases, it is loaded in two or more automatic teller machines. Thus, in the conventional system, information on an error occurring in a cash cassette is scattered across and recorded in two or more automatic teller machines.
There are also proposed other techniques for providing a memory device in each cash cassette and recording various kinds of information therein (see Patent Document 3 and Patent Document 4).
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-5-159129
[Patent Document 2] JP-A-11-102456
[Patent Document 3] JP-A-2003-6714
[Patent Document 4] JP-A-7-302367
However, if the contents of the memo on the cash cassette attached by the maintenance worker are misinterpreted by a person in charge of repair work, the cash cassette could be reused without proper repair work. In this case, it could cause the same error again. Further, even if the person in charge tries to repair and inspect the cash cassette properly by collecting error information from the automatic teller machine, since the error information on each cash cassette is scattered across two or more automatic teller machines, the person in charge may not be able to collect all the history of the error occurred in the cash cassette.
In addition, an automatic teller machine being installed in a store may not have some functions for the purpose of reducing the installation space. For example, the automatic teller machine may not have a function to verify if the number of bills actually stored in the cash cassette agrees with the number of bills transacted through the automatic teller machine. In such a case, though it is necessary to count the number of bills in the cash cassette after collecting it from the store, it is troublesome to do so.